Neolithic Britain · About 3200-1500 BC

Stonehenge and the megalith builders

Farmers with stone and antler tools raised Stonehenge in stages over more than 1,000 years, dragging some stones from Wales. Students find the great stone monuments of Atlantic Europe and test ideas about what they were for.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, 2500 BC to 3200 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Farmers with stone and antler tools raised Stonehenge in stages over more than 1,000 years, dragging some stones from Wales. Students find the great stone monuments of Atlantic Europe and test ideas about what they were for.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the main building stages of Stonehenge and when they happened.
  • Locate Stonehenge, the Preseli Hills, Newgrange and Carnac on the map.
  • Weigh at least two explanations for why Stonehenge was built.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

2500 BC

Salisbury Plain

Open the map in 2500 BC and zoom in on Salisbury Plain in southern England. Turn on Historical Events and open the marker for Stonehenge. Remember that building went on in stages from about 3000 to 1500 BC.

Open this view on the map
b

2500 BC

The bluestone trail

Pan west to the Preseli Hills in Wales, more than 200 km from Stonehenge. The smaller bluestones came from here. How could people move stones weighing several tons that far?

Open this view on the map
c

3200 BC

Older than Stonehenge

Jump to 3200 BC and cross the sea to the Boyne valley in Ireland. The great tomb of Newgrange was built here. At sunrise around midwinter, light shines down its passage. Why did the shortest day matter to farmers?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Stonehenge was built and rebuilt over about 1,500 years. Why might people keep changing a monument?
  2. Its main line points to the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset. Why would farmers track the sun?
  3. Bluestones came from Wales, more than 200 km away. What does that effort tell us about the builders?
  4. Nobody wrote down why Stonehenge was built. How can archaeologists test their ideas without written sources?
  5. Stonehenge, Newgrange and Carnac are far apart. Why did so many Neolithic communities build with giant stones?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Hatshepsut, who raised huge granite obelisks at Karnak about 1,000 years after the Stonehenge sarsens. She could command an organized state. Who do you think organized the builders of Stonehenge, a society with no writing and no known ruler?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.